


Teamwork

by Kithri



Series: Mixed Feelings [3]
Category: Worm - Wildbow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 16:33:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7648393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kithri/pseuds/Kithri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief anecdote regarding the importance of back-up in a cape fight. (More of a snippet than a story.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teamwork

**Author's Note:**

> This is the incident recalled by Kieran in Chapter 7 of 'Testing, Testing.'

“Jokes aside,” Dr Flux told Kieran, his tone sobering. “My team has pulled my ass out of the fire more times than I can count.” He gave a one-shouldered, self-deprecating shrug, his modest expression marred only briefly by a wince as he moved. “And I’ve done the same for them too, I suppose. But-” Breaking off without finishing his sentence, he lunged forward to tap at one of the readouts, frowning. He made a little hmm noise, poked at something in the mess of wires and components spread out on the bench in front of him, and checked the readout again.  
  
As Flux continued to poke and prod at things, occasionally muttering to himself, Kieran quietly hauled his laptop over. Rather than trying to drag the tinker out of his fugue, he figured he might as well take the opportunity to do a little preventative maintenance. That was to say, he was going to make an attempt to stem the tide of e-mails that were threatening to drown his poor, beleaguered inbox. Most, he could just delete, but some of them were actually important. Or, at least, judging by the number of red exclamation marks, that was certainly the opinion of the senders. The problem was, it wasn’t always possible to tell which was which just from skimming the subject lines.  
  
 _The perks of seniority,_ he thought, sighing softly.  
  
Still, minor complaints aside, he wouldn’t really trade his position for anything.  
  
It actually didn’t take all that long for Flux to surface again.  
  
“But I had a point,” he said, continuing the conversation as if he’d never even paused in the first place. “And that point is, we may bicker occasionally, and we may sometimes get on each other’s nerves, and some of us may help themselves to each other’s lunches, despite the fact that it was **very** clearly labelled with my name, but…” He drew in an audible breath, letting it out in a sigh that seemed to start somewhere down by his feet. Just hearing it made Kieran have to stifle a yawn.  
  
(Although that could also have had a little something to do with last night’s movie marathon. Personally, he blamed Curtis and Yas. If they hadn’t gotten into that stupid, **stupid** argument about which of those two utterly abysmal movies was worse, then maybe they wouldn’t have ended up watching both of those offences against logic and good taste. Not to mention discussing them at great length. And, while he was on the subject of blame, there was plenty left over for Nick, who had blatantly been riling the pair of them up. Still, it had been fun. And totally worth the sacrifice of a little sleep.)  
  
“But?” he prompted gently, when Flux showed signs neither of finishing his thought, nor of resuming his ministrations to the group’s ailing tech.  
  
“We’re there for each other, you know?” Flux’ gaze grew distant. “Take the reason I’m here, for instance,” he said, his tone utterly serious for once. “Without my team, I don’t even want to think about how that would have turned out.”  
  
He started to say something, and then stopped, shifting restlessly in his seat.  
  
“Oh?” Kieran said, because he had the feeling that Flux wanted to talk, but maybe he just needed a little push to get going.  
  
“I got hit by something that fritzed my aetheric capacitors but good,” he said quietly. “And it left me all-but completely defenceless in front of an exceedingly pissed off villain.” He coughed a little self-consciously, fiddling absently with the mess of wires and components laid out on the bench in front of him. His fingers seemed almost to flutter like birds as they made minute adjustments here and there. Kieran watched him work, almost as fascinated by that as he was by the anecdote.  
  
“I, ah, may have been taunting her a little beforehand,” Flux continued, giving another of those lopsided shrugs, a slight rueful smile briefly quirking his lips up at one side. “I believe she said something about ripping off both my arms, beating me to death with one of them and inserting the other somewhere very painful indeed.” His exaggerated shudder didn’t so much as slow the endless, restless dance of his hands amidst the guts of the malfunctioning device. “Not necessarily in that order,” he added.  
  
Kieran winced. “Sounds like taunting your opponent maybe wasn’t the wisest thing you could have done,” he said, with what he thought was a superlative display of tact.  
  
“I had to,” Flux said simply. “Twinkletoes was down, and I was trying to draw Scourge away to give her time to recover. Luckily, we’d had the foresight to call for backup before engaging. So, just as my life started flashing before my eyes, the rest of my team showed up.” He frowned briefly, raising one hand to touch the dressing that covered part of his face; letting it drop again to brush against the cast around his leg. “Could have done with them getting there a couple of minutes earlier maybe but, eh. Any fight you can more or less hobble away from is a good one, right?”  
  
“I wouldn’t know,” Kieran replied, more than a little horrified. He knew that capes fought, of course he did; but to have the results of it there in front of him…  
  
Flux shrugged, returning his attention to the device in front of him. “But chicks dig scars, right?” he said, flashing a brief, wry grin. “And, now that I’m benched for a bit, I finally have the time to grace Northeast with my presence. So, it’s not all bad.”  
  
“Well, we’re definitely happy to have you here,” Kieran said firmly. “I just… wish it could have been under better circumstances.”  
  
“Yeah,” Flux muttered, barely loud enough to hear. “Me too.” He shook his head and pulled himself upright. “Anyway,” he’d continued, in a brisk tone. “I think I’ve found the source of the problem…”


End file.
